Farmers continue to secure €4.70/kg for their lambs this week. Factories are trying to pull base quotes again, but reports suggest that they are still keen for lambs and are prepared to pay higher prices of up to €4.70/kg and 22kg carcase weight.

Mart managers say that there have been factory agents on the ground buying fleshed lambs in the marts this week, but they are rarely paying above the €100/head mark for fleshed lambs.

Base quotes

Kepak Athleague hasn’t moved on its base quote this week, maintaining a base of €4.60/kg. Many farmers are angry to see both Irish Country Meat plants and Kildare Chilling pull their base quotes this week by 10c/kg to a base of €4.40/kg, with the only justification given by factories being a lack of demand on the continent. Ballon Meats and Moyvalley have all-in quotes of €4.50/kg and €4.60/kg respectively.

Weekly kill

The weekly kill has decreased again this week to a total of 58,098 head, down 6,231 on the previous week. This total weekly kill is well back from the highs of over 72,000 in mid-September and is leading many to believe that supplies are tightening.

IFA National Sheep Committee chairman John Lynskey said lamb supplies have fallen dramatically, down 18,000 head in the last two weeks, and farmers should be resisting the lower quotes on offer from the factories.

He said factories are finding it difficult to get numbers and are having to pay €4.70/kg.

He said some top prices of €4.80/kg including bonuses have been paid midweek.

The total sheep kill stands at 1,946,449 head for the year to date. Next week, the total yearly kill is on track to surpass the two million mark, similar to the number killed this time last year, excluding live exports.

Last year, the Eid al-Adha festival fell at a similar time to this year and after two weeks of steady prices immediately after the festival, prices for lamb started to rise again as supplies tightened.

With the weekly kill falling for two consecutive weeks, perhaps we will see a similar trend to last year and supplies may tighten enough to encourage factories to compete for lambs and lift base quotes.

Cull ewe prices remain steady, with prices ranging from €2.70/kg in Ballon Meats back to a €2.40/kg quote in Kildare Chilling.

Both ICM plants and Kepak Athleague are quoting €2.50/kg for ewes.

Northern Ireland

Prices are steady in Northern Ireland, with both Dunbia Dungannon and Linden Foods quoting farmers £3.10/kg (€4.42/kg) for lambs.